Australia

AU Gen Y may be falling out of love with apartment living

After years of demand for inner city apartments, Gen Y may find the lure of a backyard hard to resist in coming years. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

GENERATION Y's love affair with inner city apartments could begin to sour in coming years as the lure of a house and a backyard proves too strong.

A surge in the popularity of well located apartments has led to strong ongoing demand for rentals among 20- to 34-year olds over the past decade.

But a property survey shows the pendulum may have swung back towards the great Australian dream of owning a free standing home in the suburbs.

In its Emerging Trends in Residential Market Demand report, property forecaster BIS Shrapnel said long-term movement towards medium and high density homes would begin to stabilise as generation Y moved into the next phase of life.

BIS Shrapnel's Angie Zigomanis said the popularity of apartments among 20- to 34-year olds had boosted rental occupancy in the inner and middle suburbs of capital cities, but the jury was still out about whether those people would continue to live in units into their late 30s and early 40s.

"Assuming the current 20- to 34-year olds in multi-unit dwellings move on to separate houses, as has already been evident among 35- to 49-year-old households, then this will translate to higher demand for new detached houses," Mr Zigomanis said.

The findings are based on the 2011 Census which show 63 per cent of 20- to 34-year olds lived in detached houses and this increases to 80 per cent for households of 35- to 49-year olds.

And the older group was much more likely to have started a family.

BIS Shrapnel also modelled an alternative scenario assuming generation Y apartment dwellers would stay in medium and high density units because of location, lifestyle and affordability.

In this case demand would continue to increase for units, primarily in established areas rather than new sub-divisions.

The report found new apartments would have to be designed appropriately for families and offer some outdoor space or be close to parks.